Visit - The Prisoner | Portmeirion Visit The Prisoner I am not a number. I am a free man Patrick McGoohan not only starred as Number Six, the leading role in The Prisoner, he was also the creator and driving force behind the 17 episode series. The series was financed by ITC Entertainment with David Tomblin as the Producer and George Markstein as script editor. Many well known actors had guest roles in the series: Leo McKern, Peter Bowles, Eric Portman, Patrick Cargill, Mary Morris, Paul Eddington and Donald Sinden to name but a few. It was probably one of the most influential pieces of televison of the 1960s not only in the UK and USA but also in France, Australia and many other countries. Even The Beatles were fans. Its cult status was confirmed with the establishment in the 1970s of the official Prisoner Appreciation Society, Six of One. Episode Titles (In telecast order) Arrival The Chimes of Big Ben A.B. and C.

Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling Living in Harmony The Girl Who Was Death Once Upon a Time Fall Out In the opening sequence of the Prisoner we see Patrick McGoohan as he angrily resigns his top secret government position and then drives through London under a stormy sky. He gets home, packs a bag, some holiday brochures fall out. A white gas hisses through the keyhole and he falls unconscious. He awakes in an identical room but through the window sees a strange village surrounded by sea and mountains. Everything looks cheerful and bright, with gaily dressed people and quaint, turreted buildings. But the village has a sinister purpose; its population are prisoners, identified only by a number, from whom information is required. There is no escape. The prisoners have had all desire to escape taken away, either by their purposeless existence, brainwashing or surgery. Number 6 is the only one with the will to escape, the one who refuses to be broken: "I am not a number; I am a free man". The series asks more questions than it answers. Why is Number 6 being held? Why did he resign? Who is Number 6? Who are his jailers? Who is Number 1?

The village is run by Number 2 whose identity changes from episode to episode. The series is rich in imagery and visual impact. The surreal architecture of the village with its Mediterranean atmosphere coupled with the high-tech interiors, tannoys, surveillance cameras and piped music create a bizarre combination. There is great attention to detail throughout with no item too large or small to receive the Prisoner stamp, from steet signs to cans of food to village credit cards, Mini Moke taxis and staff uniforms. Large and menacing balloons (occasionally referred to as 'Rover') patrol the perimiter. A dwarf, mute butler opens the door to No 2's Green Dome. Enigmatic to the end, the last episode caused ITV's telephone lines to be blocked by the many millions of viewers who called in desperate for an explanation. Even though the series is close to 50 years old, there are new viewers who may not have seen it before and we do not wish to spoil it by revealing the ending here. Many diverse and creative conclusions have been drawn from the series such as was Number 6 a victim of a nervous breakdown, or is he, like us, a prisoner of ourselves?

Was this an allegorical conundrum or a statement about personal freedom, democracy and social engineering? PRISONER APPRECIATION SOCIETY - SIX OF ONE Fancy becoming a member of the Prisoner Society Six of One? Click on the Six of One link to take you to their new look website, which has details about becoming a member and interesting information about the series. Or find the Six of One Society on their Facebook page Portmeiricon 2015 will take place at Portmeirion on the weekend of 17th - 19th April Portmeirion. Pictures of the village from The Prisoner - created by Clough Williams-Ellis. Click on any of the photographs for an enlarged view and for more information about the picture Pictures of the village from The Prisoner series. Portmeirion was designed by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis. He bought the land in 1925 on the death of the previous owner Mrs. Adelaid Haig. A visit to Portmeirion, the location for the 1960s British cult television series ' The Prisoner ', starring Patrick McGoohan, is a unique and memorable experience.

Clough Williams-Ellis had searched the world for a location for his dream village which had to be in sympathy with the land, and found one 'on his own doorstep' in Tremadog Bay, North Wales. He converted the existing house into a hotel, which had its first guests in 1926. The income generated from the hotel funded his project to make Portmeirion what it is today. Portmeirion is often referred to as ' A home for fallen buildings ' as buildings of every architectural style, both from Britain and abroad, were dismantled, transported here and rebuilt. The village is based on a miniature Mediterranean piazza, with buildings and archways, (of which there are many), painted in a wide range of pastel colours. Three thousand visitors a day come to Portmeirion in the summer. Every corner or archway produces architectural surprises. Many of the buildings are used as holiday accommodation. Those who stay in the village's hotels or self catering suites get an opportunity to view Portmeirion at its best, in solitude. Day visitors can find their own solitude on the beach, on the miles of headland walks or in the 70 acres of woodland that surround three sides of the village.

Portmeirion is warmed by the Gulf Stream, has unusually mild weather and abounds with subtropical vegetation. In 1972, Clough Williams-Ellis declared his village complete. He died six years later in 1978 at the age of 95. Portmeirion is listed as a Conservation Area and has 'listed building status'. Patrick McGoohan filmed his famous ' The Prisoner ' series and several of his Danger Man episodes at Portmeirion. It has also been used as a location for scenes from Dr. Who, Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited (although most of the filming for Brideshead Revisited was done at Castle Howard, Yorkshire) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness starring Ingrid Bergman. Portmeirion is also famous for its uniquely styled Portmeirion Pottery, designed by Susan Williams-Ellis, daughter of Portmeirion's creator Clough Williams-Ellis. Portmeirion : Pictures : Information : Location of the TV Cult series THE PRISONER Photo Album Portmeirion Portmeirion is an Italianate resort village on the coast of Snowdonia in North Wales.

The village is located on the estuary of the River Dwyryd, two miles south-east of Porthmadog, and one mile from the railway station at Minffordd, which serves both the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway and Arriva Trains Wales (Cambrian Line). Comments made - Admission charges as of July 2010 are ï¿½8 for adults, children ï¿½4, concessions ï¿½6.50 with various family tickets, if you go after 3pm apparently it's half price. Cheers :-) Have your say Portmeirion has served as a location for many films and television shows, notably The Prisoner. History Despite repeated claims that it was based on the real town of Portofino, Italy, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion's designer, denied this, stating only that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean. Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975. He incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other distinguished architects.

Portmeirion's architectural bricolage and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late twentieth century. The Prisoner [Repackaged 40th Anniversary Special Edition] DVD available from Amazon.co.uk "Though it ran for a mere 17 episodes, the sci-fi spy drama THE PRISONER is one of television's biggest cult hits. This release includes the entire series of the show, digitally restored." The main building of the hotel, and the cottages called "White Horses", "Mermaid" and "The Salutation" had been a private estate called Aber Iï¿½ (Welsh: Ice estuary), developed in the 1850s, itself on the site of a foundry and boatyard which was active in the late 18th century. Williams-Ellis changed the name, which he interpreted as "frozen mouth", to Portmeirion - Port to place it on the coast, Meirion from the county of Merioneth / Meirionydd in which it then lay.[1].

The site (and very minor remains) of a mediaeval castle (known variously as Castell Deudraeth, Castell Gwain Goch and Castell Aber Iau) are in the woods just outside the village proper, recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) in 1188. In 1931 Williams-Ellis bought from his uncle, Sir Osmund Williams Bt, the Victorian castellated mansion Castell Deudraeth with the intention of incorporating it into the Portmeirion hotel complex but the intervention of the war and other problems prevented this. Williams-Ellis had always considered the Castell to be ï¿½the largest and most imposing single building on the Portmeirion Estate" and sought ways to incorporate it. Eventually, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund as well as the Wales Tourist Board, his original aims were finally achieved and Castell Deudraeth was opened as an 11 bedroom hotel and restaurant on August 20, 2001 by Bryn Terfel.

The grounds contain an important collection of rhododendrons and other exotic plants in a wild-garden setting which was begun before Williams-Ellis' time by the previous owner George Henry Caton Haigh and has continued to be developed since his death. Portmeirion is now owned by a charitable trust, and has always been run as a hotel, which uses the majority of the buildings as hotel rooms or self-catering cottages, together with various shops, a cafe, tea-room and restaurant. Portmeirion is today a top tourist attraction in North Wales and day visits can be made on payment of an admission charge. Portmeirion in popular culture The village of Portmeirion has long been a source of inspiration for writers and television producers. For example, Noel Coward wrote Blithe Spirit while staying in the Fountain 2 (Upper Fountain) suite at Portmeirion. In 1956 the village was visited by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and other famous visitors have included Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman and Paul McCartney.

Musician Jools Holland visited whilst filming for TV music show The Tube, and was so impressed that he has had his studio and other buildings at his home in Blackheath built to a design heavily inspired by Portmeirion. Further to this, in 1987 he starred in a spoof documentary, The Laughing Prisoner, with Stephen Fry, Terrence Alexander and Hugh Laurie. Much of it was shot on location in Portmeirion, and it included archive footage of Patrick McGoohan. A number of television series and films have filmed exterior shots at Portmeirion, often depicting the village as an exotic European location. Examples of this include the 1960 Danger Man episode "View from the Villa" starring Patrick McGoohan, a mid-1970s episode of Doctor Who entitled "The Masque of Mandragora" set in Renaissance Italy, and an episode of Citizen Smith in which the eponymous hero visits Rimini.

Without question the best-known use of the location occurred in 1966-67 when McGoohan returned to Portmeirion to film exteriors for The Prisoner, a surreal science fiction drama in which Portmeirion itself played a starring role as "The Village". On request from Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion was not identified on screen as the filming location until the credits of the final episode of the series, and indeed Williams-Ellis has stated that the levy of a reasonable entrance fee was a deliberate ploy to prevent the village from being spoilt by overcrowding. The show became a cult classic, and fans continue to visit Portmeirion, which hosts annual Prisoner fan conventions. The building that was used as the lead character's home in the series was, for many years, operated as a Prisoner-themed souvenir shop, with one of the Village vehicles used in the series parked outside the door. Many of the locations used in The Prisoner are virtually unchanged from the series.

Due to its Prisoner connection, Portmeirion has been used as the filming location for a number of homages to the series, ranging from comedy skits to an episode of the BBC documentary series The Celts which recreated scenes from The Prisoner. In 2003 some scenes were filmed there for the final episode of the TV series Cold Feet [2]. Portmeirion, along with Morfa Bychan, was used as the location for the filming of the Supergrass video Alright. The video includes numerous references to The Prisoner. All the pictures on this page are copyrighted under Creative Commons Licence . If you use them please give a live link back to this page. Hi Res Photos are available for commercial use. Click on the pictures below to see more 1000+ images about TV The Prisoner The Village on Pinterest | Patrick o'brian, The square and Travel WALES: The tourist village of Portmeirion in North Wales. This was the village used during the making of the TV programme 'The Prisoner' in the 60s.

#travel #wales #portmeirion See More 1000+ images about Portmeirion, Wales on Pinterest | The 1960s, Wales uk and England Forward Summer, 1936. Josephine Tey joins her friends in the resort village of Portmeirion, Wales, to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine's novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained-and expose their deepest fears. But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood's leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the… See More Portmeirion - WOW.com Portmeirion This article is about the Welsh village. For the pottery, see Portmeirion Pottery .

Portmeirion Overview of the central plaza Portmeirion Coordinates : 52°54′43″N 4°05′56″W﻿ / ﻿52.912°N 4.099°W﻿ / 52.912; -4.099 Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd , North Wales . It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village , and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the community of Penrhyndeudraeth , on the estuary of the River Dwyryd , 2 miles (3.2 km) south east of Porthmadog , and 1 mile (1.6 km) from Minffordd railway station . Portmeirion has served as the location for numerous films and television shows, and was "The Village" in the 1960s television show The Prisoner .

Contents Sir Clough Williams-Ellis at Portmeirion in 1969 Castell Deudraeth Sir Clough Williams-Ellis , Portmeirion's designer, denied repeated claims that the design was based on the fishing village of Portofino on the Italian Riviera . He stated only that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean . He did, however, draw from a love of the Italian village stating, "How should I not have fallen for Portofino? Indeed its image remained with me as an almost perfect example of the man-made adornment and use of an exquisite site." [1] Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975. He incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. Portmeirion's architectural bricolage and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late 20th century.

The main building of the hotel and the cottages "White Horses", "Mermaid", and "The Salutation" had been a private estate called Aber Iâ ( Welsh : Ice estuary), developed in the 1850s on the site of a late 18th-century foundry and boatyard. Williams-Ellis changed the name (which he had interpreted as "frozen mouth") to Portmeirion: "Port-" from its place on the coast; "-meirion" from the county of Merioneth (Meirionydd) in which it was sited. [2] The very minor remains of a mediaeval castle (known variously as Castell Deudraeth, Castell Gwain Goch and Castell Aber Iâ) are in the woods just outside the village, recorded by Gerald of Wales in 1188. In 1931 Williams-Ellis bought from his uncle, Sir Osmond Williams, Bt , the Victorian crenellated mansion Castell Deudraeth with the intention of incorporating it into the Portmeirion hotel complex, but the intervention of the war and other problems prevented this.

Williams-Ellis had always considered the Castell to be “the largest and most imposing single building on the Portmeirion Estate" and sought ways to incorporate it. Eventually, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund as well as the Wales Tourist Board , his original aims were achieved and Castell Deudraeth was opened as an 11 bedroom hotel and restaurant on August 20, 2001 by Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel . The grounds contain an important collection of rhododendrons and other exotic plants in a wild-garden setting, which was begun before Williams-Ellis's time by the previous owner George Henry Caton Haigh and has continued to be developed since Williams-Ellis's death. Portmeirion is now owned by a charitable trust , and has always been run as a hotel, which uses the majority of the buildings as hotel rooms or self-catering cottages, together with shops, a cafe, tea-room, and restaurant. Portmeirion is today a top tourist attraction in North Wales [3] and day visits can be made on payment of an admission charge.

Architecture Architecture critic Lewis Mumford devoted a large part of a chapter of his 1964 book The Highway and the City to Portmeiron, which he called an artful and playful little modern village, designed as a whole and all of a piece ... a fantastic collection of architectural relics and impish modern fantasies. ... As an architect, [Williams-Ellis] is equally at home in the ancient, traditional world of the stark Welsh countryside and the once brave new world of "modern architecture." But he realized earlier than most of his architectural contemporaries how constricted and desiccated modern forms can become when the architect pays more attention to the mechanical formula or the exploitation of some newly fabricated material than to the visible human results. In a sense, Portmeiron is a gay, deliberately irresponsible reaction against the dull sterilities of so much that passes as modern architecture today. ... [I]t is prompted by [the] impulse ... to reclaim for architecture the freedom of invention — and the possibility of pleasurable fantasy — it had too abjectly surrendered to the cult of the machine.

[4] Mumford referred to the architecture as both romantic and picturesque in Baroque form, "with tongue in cheek." He described the total effect as "relaxing and often enchanting" with "playful absurdities" that are "delicate and human in touch", making the village a "happy relief" from the "rigid irrationalities and the calculated follies" of the modern world. [4] In popular culture Battery Square and souvenir shops The village of Portmeirion has been a source of inspiration for writers and television producers. For example, Noël Coward wrote Blithe Spirit while staying in the Fountain 2 (Upper Fountain) suite at Portmeirion. In 1956 the village was visited by architect Frank Lloyd Wright , and other famous visitors have included Gregory Peck , Ingrid Bergman and Paul McCartney . Musician Jools Holland visited whilst filming for the TV music show The Tube , and was so impressed that he has had his studio and other buildings at his home in Blackheath built to a design heavily inspired by Portmeirion. Television series and films have shot exterior scenes at Portmeirion, often depicting the village as an exotic European location.

Examples of this include the 1960 Danger Man episode "View from the Villa" starring Patrick McGoohan , the 1976 four-episode Doctor Who story titled " The Masque of Mandragora " set in Renaissance Italy, [5] and an episode of Citizen Smith in which the eponymous hero visits Rimini . In 2002 some scenes were filmed there for the final episode (at the time) of the TV series Cold Feet . [6] The town of Wiggyville in the Cbeebies series Gigglebiz is shot in Portmeirion as well. Siouxsie and the Banshees used Portmeirion as a setting in their 1987 music video for "the Passenger". Portmeirion was the setting of the inaugural Festival N°6 , which took place in September 2012 and featured headline acts Spiritualized , Primal Scream and New Order . Since then, this festival is celebrated each year in September at Portmeirion. The 80s Scottish band Altered Images used Portmeirion in their video "See Those Eyes".

Hercules, a statue by William Brodie The Prisoner In 1966–1967, Patrick McGoohan returned to Portmeirion to film exteriors for The Prisoner , a surreal spy drama in which Portmeirion played a starring role as "The Village" , in which McGoohan's retired intelligence agent, known only as "Number 6", was incarcerated and interrogated, albeit in pleasant surroundings. At Williams-Ellis' request, Portmeirion was not identified on screen as the filming location until the credits of the final episode of the series, and indeed, Williams-Ellis stated that the levy of an entrance fee was a deliberate ploy to prevent the village from being spoilt by overcrowding. [2] The show, broadcast on ITV in the UK during the Autumn of 1967 and CBS in the United States in the Summer of 1968, became a cult classic, and fans continue to visit Portmeirion, which hosts annual Prisoner fan conventions. [7] The building that was used as the lead character's home in the series currently operates as a Prisoner-themed souvenir shop.

Many of the locations used in The Prisoner are virtually unchanged after more than 40 years. Because of its Prisoner connection, Portmeirion has been used as the filming location for a number of homages to the series, ranging from comedy skits to an episode of the BBC documentary series The Celts , which recreated scenes from The Prisoner. Other occasions include: In 1987 Jools Holland starred in a spoof documentary, The Laughing Prisoner, with Stephen Fry , Terence Alexander and Hugh Laurie . Much of it was shot on location in Portmeirion, and it included archive footage of McGoohan. Portmeirion, along with the Welsh village of Morfa Bychan , was used as the location for the filming of the Supergrass video Alright . The video includes numerous references to The Prisoner. Iron Maiden recorded a song called "The Prisoner" on their 1982 album, The Number of the Beast .

In a documentary programme about that album (as part of the Classic Albums TV series), lead singer Bruce Dickinson wanders through the avenues of Portmeirion and describes how the song was written and how the band's manager obtained permission from Patrick McGoohan to use dialogue from the show in the song's introduction. The Channel 4 music programme The Tube also produced videos for XTC 's songs "The Meeting Place" and " The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul " filmed in Portmeirion with the band wearing costumes from The Prisoner . In Series 12, Episode 13 of Wheeler Dealers the finished Caterham 7 is taken to Portmeirion to pay homage to The Prisoner, which featured the Lotus 7 , the predecessor of the Caterham 7. Panoramic view of the central piazza See also Gardens North Wales | Portmeirion Portmeirion Village Gardens North Wales Portmeirion stands on a rugged clifftop on its own private peninsula overlooking Cardigan Bay. It is surrounded by 145 acres of sub-tropical woodlands and miles of sandy beaches.

Portmeirion was built by visionary Welsh architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who wanted to prove that development did not have to mean destruction of the natural environment. He started work in 1925 and completed the village during the early 1970's. He died in 1978, aged 95. Portmeirion is now acknowledged as a unique architectural work of art. Many know Portmeirion for its role as "The Village" in Patrick McGoohan's television series "The Prisoner". It is also known for the Portmeirion Pottery, designed by Clough's daughter Susan Williams-Ellis (1918-1997). The village has many colourful shops and restaurants including Castell Deudraeth (gastropub menu; free village entry with lunch), The Hotel Portmeirion (table d'hote menu), The Terrace Self-Service Restaurant, Cadwalader's Ice Cream Cafe and Caffi Glas Italian Cafe. All the cottages in the village are let as suites and rooms as part of the Hotel Portmeirion.

There are also 17 self-catering cottages sleeping from 3 to 8 people. Portmeirion's Victorian sub-tropical woodland garden known as Y Gwyllt includes a tree trail featuring unique rhododendrons, Californian coast redwoods, New Zealand's 'dancing tree', and the tallest Chilean maiten tree in the UK. Video Closed Christmas day and open for Festival no.6 only on 4-7 September Prices For Group Rates or queries contact David Burnham, Tollgate Supervisor on 01766 772311 Sun 5C RSS Fancy getting married in #Portmeirion? See our new booklet: Our #wedding open day is on 04.… 1 day ago Ffansi priodi ym Mhortmeirion? Mae gennym lyfryn newydd.

Cliciwch yma: Mae'n diwrnod agored ar 04.02.17 #priodi 1 day ago Portmeirion - lle rhamantus i aros: #Portmeirion - the perfect romantic getaway: #ValentinesDay #SantesDwynwen 2 days ago RT @kingingit100 : Starting the year with 6 DAILY VLOGS!2 Watch ep.1 now @ We <3 Portmeirion @Portmeirion @visitwale… 3 days ago Geraint Jarman's Portmeirion gig mentioned on last night's Rhys Mwyn's #BBC show: Tickets:… 3 days ago Cafodd gig Geraint Jarman Portmeirion ei chrybwyll ar sioe Rhys Mwyn neithiwr ar Tocynnau:… 3 days ago RT @madmaz2112 : 'Checkmate' @ Central Piazza, Portmeirion @ruthwignall @DerekTheWeather @ItsYourWales @Portmeirion @Portmeirion Dail @WalesC… 3 days ago Ysbrydolia

eth rhodd ar gyfer Santes #Dwynwen ar 25.01.17 Gift inspiration for St Dwynwen's day on 25.01.17 #love… 4 days ago RT @Jameswhitt1990 : Cinio Dydd Sul gora dwi rioed di gal yn @Portmeirion - a golygfeydd fel hyn tra'n byta fo....

Diolch ❤️ … 4 days ago Missed #Portmeirion on TV last night? Weatherman Walking, Series 10: 1. Portmeirion and Dolaucothi: via @BBCiPlayer 6 days ago #Watch #WeathermanWalking @Portmeirion tonight. A clip of things to come @BBCWales 7 days ago Watch #Portmeirion tonight on @BBCWales with @DerekTheWeather at 7.30pm #weathermanwalking 7 days ago Check out our new bargain break posted today, including a two night stay, dinner and wine. Click here for details… 8 days ago Peidiwch methu allan ar ein cynnig arbennig diweddaraf, sy’n cynnwys arhosiad dwy noson, swper a gwin. Cliciwch yma… 8 days ago Portmeirion\'s January Offers : 8 days ago Jan 25 is lover’s day in Wales.

Celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day with our special offer: #love… 9 days ago Mae Ionawr 25ain yn ddiwrnod i gariadon yng Nghymru. Dathlwch ddydd Santes Dwynwen gyda’n cynnig arbennig… 9 days ago The #Castle is having an early spring clean before re-opening on Friday. We battled through the painters, plumbers… 10 days ago Mae #Castell Deudraeth yn cael ei lanhau cyn ail-agor ar ddydd Gwener. Frwydrwyr trwy beintwyr, plymwyr a glanhawyr… 10 days ago #bargain alert! #Free entry and delicious three course #Sunday lunch for less than £25 when you book hotel@portmeir… 11 days ago Clough Williams-Ellis | Project Indigo tpd123 Leave a comment Welcome to Plas Brondanw Gardens! Hello and welcome back to August 2015 – let’s go to Plas Brondanw Gardens in North Wales!

We are here to learn all about this Classic Doctor Who location where the episode The Five Doctors (1983) was filmed. This was a special episode made to celebrate Doctor Who’s Twentieth Anniversary that featured all five of the Doctors from the first 20 years, and many companions. It would have been hard to believe then that one day there would be thirteen Doctors and a Fiftieth Anniversary celebration! Plas Brondanw is in Carreg Llanfrothen in the county of Gwynedd. It was the home of the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who created the village Portmeirion ( aka San Martino if you are a Doctor Who fan! ) The gardens and village share the same style. The house was built by John ap Hywel in the 16th Century. Clough Williams-Ellis was given Plas Brondanw by his father in 1908 when he was aged 25, with the aim to restore it and take care of it. And boy did he do a good job! The home of Clough Williams- Ellis and family I visited the gardens in Summer 2015 when I was on my journey around Wales.

It was not nice weather when I visited, I had to travel through the rain and wind, through thick and thin, but luckily I made it there in the end. I took my TARDIS through the Snowdonia National Park and the journey was worth it as I got to see the picturesque mountains along the way. The river runs through it A magical forest When I arrived I had some lunch in the café to warm me up and I sheltered from the rain. When it cleared up I explored the gardens. It looks like I am wearing a Gallifreyan collar! This looks like it was made in Gallifrey! These gardens were where the First Doctor was stolen by the Time Scoop and taken to the Death Zone on Gallifrey. Sadly William Hartnell had passed away so Richard Hurndall was called upon to play the role of the First Doctor instead. Looking for the First Doctor Isn’t this so pretty? I’m the King of the castle, you’re the dirty rascal!

Walking through Plas Brondanw gardens It must be nice to sit under a tree This is where the First Doctor walked from the Time Scoop Welcome to the garden Luckily for me I am still around to tell the tale because there was no sign of the Time Scoop and it was very tranquil in the garden. It was fun to spot the places where the Doctor had walked. I wonder what he was doing there. Maybe he was trying to take his mind off the whole regeneration thing as he knew his body was growing frail. I wonder why the First Doctor was here? Walking in Richard Hurndall’s steps No Time Scoops here today! Next I went into the forest and up the hill to see Folly Castle. A folly is a quirky or extravagant building or structure built for fun or to make a view more interesting. A plaque says This outlook tower was subscribed for as a wedding present to Clough Williams- Ellis and his bride Amabel Strachey in 1915 by his brother officers of the Welsh Guards. In the Second World War it was prepared as a local military strongpoint to repel the expected German invasion.

The view of Snowdonia from Plas Brondanw Gardens Welcome to the Eye of Orion These scenes were the first to be filmed but due to a technical difficulty they had to be reshot. Mark Strickson , who played Turlough, had gone on holiday when this was discovered and the BBC had to search the country to find him! As well as Doctor Who, scenes from the Ingrid Bergman film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) were filmed at the folly. Enjoying my childhood whilst I still can! I had a lovely afternoon at Plas Brondanw despite the weather and I would love to go back there on a sunny day. You should go there too but make sure it is the right day for the weather so you can really enjoy it. Thank you to Doctor Who The Locations Guide for helping me to find this filming location. Also, thank YOU for reading! I’m sorry I haven’t written a post in a while, I have had a lot going on, including some exams, and I also broke my wrist! Luckily my wrist is a lot better now. I will be in Dublin next week, if any readers know any Doctor Who related places I can visit there please let me know.

Right, I’m off to wrestle Rassilon. Goodbye! Share this: tpd123 Leave a comment Welcome to Portmeirion! Ciao! Welcome to Fifteenth Century Italy – otherwise known as Portmeirion in July 2015! We are travelling back in time to last summer to visit North Wales for the filming location of the Tom Baker Doctor Who episode The Masque of Mandragora (1976). In this classic episode, The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane materialise the TARDIS in an orange grove on Earth in the 15th Century, which the Doctor describes as ‘not a pleasant time’. They are in San Martino, Italy in 1492 and have brought a piece of energy from the Mandragora Helix with them by accident! This story is a historical drama which was rare for Doctor Who at that time. The Gate House at the entrance to Portmeirion Portmeirion is located in area of Wales called Gwynedd and is near Porthmadog. It was designed and built by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in the style of an Italian village, and it is now a tourist village.

Work started in 1925 and it took 50 years for him to build this village but it was finished just before he died. He built it to show how you can develop a naturally beautiful site without ruining it. If you would like to find out more about the history of Portmeirion please check out this excellent blog post A Very Brief History of Portmeirion Village . I’m glad he’s holding that up! This is Hercules. Outside the Unicorn House! Where are the rainbows? Proof it was sunny when I was there! Another view of the Unicorn House Apart from Doctor Who, Portmeirion has served as the location for many films and television shows, and is very well known as the filming location for the 1960s television show The Prisoner . It is also famous for pottery – in fact my own plates are made by Portmeirion Pottery from the Botanic Garden range .

The Prisoner was filmed in Portmeirion The house of Number 6 in The Prisoner I visited Portmeirion during my Welsh road-trip of 2015 and it was my first Northern Wales stop – the weather was very sunny which showed off the colours of Portmeirion and it looked very cheerful. This doesn’t look like Wales – where am I? Well this view is even better! In The Masque of Mandragora DVD extra ‘Secret of the Labyrinth’ (the original name for this episode) the episode Producer Philip Hinchcliffe said that he had been to Portmeirion many years before and that the writer Louis Marks had studied Renaissance Italy at Oxford. They couldn’t go abroad to film this episode but Portmeirion stepped up! The Central Piazza. What a view! Production Manager Chris D’Oyly-John thought it was good news that they had a location but a lot of time and money was spent travelling back and forth between London and North Wales. With travelling the shoot would take 5 or 6 days and there were no motorways. It was hard to get horses, props, costumes and make-up vans there.

To keep it looking like 15th Century Italy the Director Rodney Bennett did very selective shooting and not many panoramic movements. He used the Italianate backgrounds and covered up bits that didn’t look right for the period. A fake catacomb entrance was made to link the studio scenes with Portmeirion. These were covered up during the episode. There is also a DVD extra, produced by Richard Bignell, called Now and Then. It says that in a memo, written on 03.01.76, Philip Hinchcliffe said: ‘The only suitable location for exterior location filming is Portmeirion in North Wales’. Filming started on the 3rd of May 1976 and lasted three days. In three months it will be the 40th Anniversary! The DVD extra shows us a map the places that were used for filming. I didn’t get to visit the woods but I visited everywhere else in the village. The Bridge House. You are welcome to enter Portmeirion. Outside the Pantheon The first stop was the Bridge House which was used as the City Gate when Count Federico returns to San Martino. He also passes the Pantheon.

The Doctor fled the soldiers in the market here Look out for the soldiers! The Bell Tower above Battery Square Where’s my lunch? Battery Square was used for the market scene when the Doctor was on the run from the soldiers. Hangings were used to hide the bits that didn’t look suitable. There was no market when I was there, it was all set. Who just ran past here? The Loggia with the hidden Buddha Hello Mr Buddha, do you know your way around here? Have you seen the Doctor anywhere? The Doctor passes The Loggia which houses a big Golden Buddha. This is on the way to The Temple of Demnos The Bristol Colonnade Enjoying the sun in front of the Bristol Colonnade The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Giuliano scurry along the Bristol Colonnade on their way to the Temple Ruins. The Gloriette A side view of the Gloriette See, it was all a façade! The back of the Gloriette. In the Piazza there is a gloriette facing the ornamental pond. The Doctor is brought there to be executed but luckily tricked the executor to get away. It’s not a real building, it is just a façade.

Rugs covered the iron work in the same way the hangings were used. The Doctor jumped over the balustrade Did you see the Doctor on horseback? Outside Hercules Hall Inside Hercules Hall – you can get married here! Where is the Doctor’s horse? This is the road to Hercules Hall The Doctor rode a horse past the Hercules Hall and jumps the balustrade and steps on his way to the woodlands. The beach is the estuary of the River Dwyryd Between Neptune and Trinity Cottages, the Doctor is chased, past the Watchhouse and Belltower down towards the beach. Clough Williams-Ellis liked the look of the ruins Temple of Demnos and asked the BBC to leave them. Sadly they were made of polystyrene! Jim Sangster , a TV Historian said ‘…..we know it’s Portmeirion, but actually when you are watching it I don’t think that distracts, I don’t think it gets in the way at all. I’m absolutely convinced they went to Italy as far as I’m concerned’ which proves that Portmeirion was the most convincing place to film The Masque of Mandragora! Bellissimo!

Portmeirion is a calm, tranquil and cool place to visit and is worth the travel. My favourite part was paddling in the pool in the Piazza – I was lucky that it was sunny that day because it is Wales which is a very rainy country. I hope that it will be bright for you too if you go. Getting soaked! In other news, I am VERY peeved about the latest Doctor Who news – Steven Moffat is quitting and there will be no new series to watch in 2016! I guess I will just have to watch some old episodes instead – there are lots for me to watch still so at least I have that to look forward to. What do you think of this news? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thank you for reading my post, I have another classic location to tell you about next. Arrivederci!

Question: What was the name of the Welsh village designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, that was used in the fiming of the television series 'The Prisoner'?
Answer: PORTMEIRION